Dozens of female garment workers in Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon were
attacked by assailants wielding iron bars on Monday. Hundreds of garment workers at Fu Yuen Garment Co. Ltd.,
which produced ready-made garments for German discounter Lidl and up until April this year for British fashion brand
Joules, have been on strike since August, news agency AFP reported.

The fight at the garment factory that employs about 1,200 women and only
about 100 men is about better working conditions - the temperatures at the
factory floor are too hot, toilet breaks too short and abuse by supervisors
not uncommon.

Though most of the workers’ demands have since been met, the factory
management refuses to reinstate those 30 women who called for the strike.
Thus, they continued campaigning in front of the factory gates.

Until Monday, when about 40 “gangsters” attacked the women and hit them
with iron bars, says one of them, Than Than Soe, according to AFP.
Twenty-seven women were injured and had to be taken to hospital; six
remained for further observation. The police intervened only once residents
came to the women's aid and pelted the factory with rocks and sticks.

The police blame the workers for the violence, saying in a statement
that a fight broke out after the small group of women on strike urged
employees to participate in the protest. Officers have since been deployed
to guard the area but no arrests have been made.

While Fu Yuen management has yet to comment, a spokesman for Lidl told
Reuters that the company was liaising with the supplier to investigate the
claims. “Once we have obtained all of the facts, we will make an assessment
of the situation and take action, if necessary,” he said in an email. A
spokeswoman for Joules said the brand had stopped working with the factory
since April 2018.

Myanmar’s rapidly growing garment industry employs more than 450,000
workers, most of them women. After the oil and gas industry, it is the
country’s top exporter and one of its most important industries, reaching a
volume of 2 billion US dollars last year.